TACCLE ACTIVITY

FIVE MAIN CONCEPTS

• TACCLE: This handbook is the result of a trans-national project called TACCLE2, which is an abbreviation of the title Teachers’ Aids on Creating Content for Learning Environments. The handbook aims to support teachers interested in using e-learning to teach Key Competences or, as they are sometimes called, Core Competences1 . This handbook is one of a series that includes e-Learning for Primary Teachers, e-Learning for Teachers of STEM, e-Learning for Teachers of Creative & Performing Arts and e-Learning for Teachers of the Humanities.

Although they are all geared towards secondary school (mainly 11-16) teachers, you may find that some of the ideas can be adapted for use in primary schools so they are well worth a look as well. The launchpad for this new series was the popularity of the first Taccle e-learning handbook for teachers published in 2009. The original book covered the basics of e-learning practice, including how to use a basic toolkit of social software tools together with ideas for using them in the classroom, teacher- friendly explanations of some important issues underpinning e-learning (such as metadata, copyright, web 2.0 and web 3.0) and some basic skills teachers need to create learning resources.

• E-LEARNING: E-learning, also referred to as online learning or electronic learning, is the acquisition of knowledge which takes place through electronic technologies and media. In simple language, e-learning is defined as “learning that is enabled electronically”. Typically, e-learning is conducted on the Internet, where students can access their learning materials online at any place and time. E-learning is a new concept for me and also for my group, but nowadays it is a very important concept because children are now learning too many things on the internet.

The term “e-learning” has only been in existence since 1999 when the word was first utilized at a CBT systems seminar. Other words also began to spring up in search of an accurate description such as “online learning” and “virtual learning”. However, the principles behind e-learning have been well documented throughout history, and there is even evidence which suggests that early forms of e-learning existed as far back as the 19th century. (https://www.talentlms.com/elearning/history-of-elearning)

• ADDED VALUE: The main definition of added value-added is the additional features or economic value that a company adds to its products and services before offering them to customers. However, we use this concept with this meaning: the activities we are doing in this task have an added value, that is, they are useful for the primary school children in order to learn something in addition to the fact of realizing the activity itself. Most of the task that we are doing have added values, but I think that this is a concept which fits specially in this task. An added value in a task can be that students apart from learning the content which is inside the activity, they learn something more, such as how to use an specific digital tool, how to search information on the internet, how to collaborate and divide the work with their classmates....

• PECHA KUCHA: Our stars have had to do a different presentation in this task, but they have performed it very well. The basic idea of ​​PechaKucha is to allow the presentations of various presenters to be shared during one night, in order to maintain a high level of interest and attention through very concise presentations. For this, the Pechakucha 20×20 format was created in which each presenter is allowed to use 20 slides, each of which is shown for 20 seconds. In total, each presentation runs for 6 minutes and 40 seconds, after which there is a short break and the next presenter takes the stage. Normally, each event consists of 14 presentations.

As a curiosity, the term Pecha Kucha comes from Japanese. It is an onomatopoeia to refer to the sound of a casual conversation. They are 20×20 presentations, that is 20 slides (images) x 20 seconds of presentation per slide. ( https://www.pechakucha.com/)

PechaKucha, which means "the sound of conversation" in Japanese, was first conceived by Tokyo architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, who were seeking a way to encourage student presenters to use PowerPoint in a more organized and succinct manner.(https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/PechaKucha-pecha)

• MINDMAPPING: This has been an essential concept for us in this task, although it is not very complex it can be a little bit tricky and it's very dificult to do a very good one. Mind mapping was developed as an effective method for generating ideas by association. In order to create a mind map, you usually start in the middle of the page with the central theme/main idea and from that point you work outward in all directions to create a growing diagram composed of keywords, phrases, concepts, facts and figures.

How do I use mind mapping?

You can use mind mapping for the following: taking notes in a lecture and listening for the most important points or keywords, showing links and relationships between the main ideas in your subject, brainstorming all the things you already know about an essay question, planning the early stages of an essay by visualising all the aspects of the question, organising your ideas and information by making it accessible on a single page, stimulating creative thinking and creative solutions to problems and reviewing learning in preparation for a test or examination. (https://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/sites/default/files/docs/learningguide-mindmapping.pdf)

Can these activities related with the use of technology be detrimental for children? Why?

We all agree that the implementation of digital tools in the classroom is very important because today you have to be able to handle technology since it is found everywhere, and to work in the future it will be essential to have some basic computer knowledge. In addition, on many occasions, they facilitate the work of the teacher and the students when carrying out activities. But, what about the disadvantages they can have in the learning process of children?

Some disadvantages of using technological devices in primary school classrooms are: distracting students, smartphones have a bad reputation in classrooms and there have been strong cases for banning them in schools. It requires management and training, it leads to tech disparity, the cost of the devices used and the relationship between the teacher and the student changes because they spend less time face to face. We should know as future teachers how to use technology in th classroom, because it can be used in many ways, we have to understand the context and to teach our students as best as possible implementing the technology when it benefits the learning process of children.